The clouds were threatening to burst above several hundred people standing in SF State’s historic Malcolm X Plaza. The gray day set the tone for the somber crowd as they chanted, “Fewer classes, higher fees, CSU is run by thieves!” Sheila Tully stood amongst the crowd of teachers, students, and observers holding her picket sign up high. “I don’t want to strike but I will!” it read.

A petite woman with a salt and pepper pixie haircut, Tully is one of the most dynamic, overqualified teachers at SF State. She studied nursing, got her PhD from UC Berkeley in medical anthropology, and her masters in Latin American studies. She teaches classes in four different departments; Anthropology, Labor Studies, Women’s Studies, and Human Sexuality. She is labeled, however, a part-time temporary employee.

“I didn’t go into teaching to be rich, but…I just barely broke $40,000 a year - this year,” she said.

Tully is one of 23,000 teachers across the state who are barely making ends meet while living in one of the most expensive states in the country. They are angry with CSU executives receiving huge raises while student fees have nearly doubled within the past four years and teachers’ salaries have remained the same. The California Faculty Association, which Tully is a part of, is currently in the midst of contract negotiations with Chancellor Charles Reed and the Board of Trustees, who oversee funding of the California State Universities. But if they don’t reach an agreement soon, the faculty is planning to strike for two days.

The energy in the plaza was high on that drizzly day. Teachers lined the stage and cheered as California State senator Leland Yee approached the podium.

“I graduated from here,” he said with a defiant tone. “It was affordable then, and it should be affordable now!”

Students cheered along with the faculty. It seemed that for the first time in a while, students were hearing teachers speak on their difficult working conditions and making the connection between that topic, rising tuition and shrinking classes.

Daisy Martinez, a 20-year-old child and adolescent development major, stood in awe of the crowd. She recognized some of her teachers up on the stage.

“They have a right to demand fair contracts. And besides they’re fighting for us too,” said Martinez, referring to a resolution CFA passed opposing student fee increases.

Tully agreed.

“My heart breaks every semester when I have to turn students who want to add my class away,” she said. “These are second semester seniors who need to graduate- and I can’t add them because my maximum is 50 students.”

Most semesters she’s teaching up to 250 students. That’s a lot of papers to grade. It’s easy to see why the average CSU student takes five years to graduate with those student teacher ratios..

Some might assume that by giving teachers fair raises students will have to pay even higher tuition, thus putting teachers at odds with their students. So why did all the CSU presidents receive four percent pay raises this year? SF state president Robert Corrigan got a 14 percent pay increase just last year and with this new increase he will now make $271,590 a year in addition to housing and car allowances.

“I live in the city,” said Tully. “And I have a 13-year-old daughter. If it weren’t for my husband working for a union, we wouldn’t get by.”

Tully is one of the 54 percent of all CSU faculty that earn less than $50,000 a year. The average pay for the 12,000 faculty members who are lecturers is $43,912,if they can even get a fulltime position.

Tully teaches in different departments just in case. Some semesters, the departments simply can’t afford her. But if several departments do need her she’ll take their offer. She can’t afford not to. Due to her part-time classification, she doesn’t really have any job security. What kind of education system do we have when a teacher with a PhD from a prestigious university can’t teach and get a decent salary with benefits?

John Travis, president of the CFA, who also spoke at the picket, claims that the faculty need not only fair salary increases, but more opportunities for them to become full time. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) post-secondary education has relied heavily on part time faculty who don’t cost as much as fulltime and tenured faculty. This tends to devalue the quality of our education.

Part of the problem is that the Chancellor claims the administration can’t afford the pay increases with the budget they are given by the Governor. But in the past four years the Chancellor has only asked the Legislature for more funding once. Meanwhile CFA has lobbied annually for more money from the state.

“They’ve got a $4 billion dollar budget and were asking for $20 million,” explains Travis. “Less than half of one percent of the entire CSU budget.”

Meanwhile student fees are going up yet another 10 percent this year while programs like Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) are being cut and financial aid has not increased. It makes many faculty and students wonder what’s going to happen to the so-called “People’s University.” Is the CSU really living up to it’s promise as “the a leader in high-quality, accessible, student-focused higher education...one of the most affordable university systems in the country?”

Tully says she worries about her job security yet she worries far more about what these fiscal issues say about the state’s priorities.

“If this is a slow attempt to dismantle higher public education,” she said. “then this fight is bigger than whether or not I get a raise.”